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Lady Of Candles
I walked through a land dark and dim, through empty hallows black and grim, till through the trees I did spy, a house with window bright and dry. Three raps on the door I did make, though now I curse my mistake. For within she sat, old and sad, and in black and white humbly clad.'Enter did I, unafraid, what cause of fear could a crone create? Yet she bade me sit and dwell, upon the rows of candles in her cell. Tall and white, fat and thin, countless hundreds lay within. '' Yet one alone she plucked, with gleaming eye and tender touch. Short and thin, faint and dim, this candle stood, soft and white as newborn's skin. Yet on the base I spied a name, and no more my fear could tame. From the house I flew, and I ran through woods dark with gloom. Yet behind me a cackle grew, so soft at first I barely knew. ''And now in dreams its all I hear, the crone, the house, and the candle dear. For etched on the base of that flickering flame, gods above, was carved my name. -''Early draft of A Journey Through the Realms, by Nerevic satirist Vayin Oreth. The final publication was banned due to its lengthy chapter on Sune. 'The Lady of Candles (also often known as the Raven Queen) is one of the Known Gods of Tolas. Commonly regarded as the Goddess of Death and Mortality, the Lady of Candles has a unique and mysterious role in the pantheon of deities. Worship Due in part to her universal domain, worship of the Lady of Candles can be found across Tolas, using many different names, customs, rituals and offerings. In fact the forms of worship are so diverse that often travelers do not even realise the same god is being revered. What is common to all forms of worship however, is the unusual silence of the God of Death. It is extraordinarily rare for a person to claim to hear the Lady of Candles directly, and rarer still that they are telling the truth. As such, the Silence of the Gods that occurred alongside the coming of the Exarchs did little to disrupt or unnerve worshipers. Hence, the Exarchs that the Lady of Candles did summon garnered immense followings and reverence, as for nearly all of Tolas they were the first visible manifestations of the God of Death. Afterlife Kuso jolted up, he was on his back somewhere, he did not know where. Swinging his head around and saw only blackness. He patted his chest, recalling the piercing blade that had knocked him down. That stupid sun knight with his lance, and his ilk had put him here, some prison intended to drive him insane. Well Ol' Kuso won't be broken by such coward tactics, he has the soldier watching over him. As the young mercenary thought this, from the blackness before him rose a bright white face, an impossibly large porcelain mask of a woman, flawless with closed eyes. It drew closer but it seemed to grow smaller until it was right up to Kuso, who realised now he was standing. A mass of flowing black hair extended from the mask, a hand made of shadow that was darker than then void around it reached up and pulled the mask off. Kuso saw the face beneath and was gone... As varied as the rituals of worship are the belief in the role of the Lady of Candles, a mystery the God seems in no hurry to solve. As such, there is no definitive answer to what the God's role in death is, either as a caretaker of souls, a shepherd of the departed, a judge of sinners or a ghastly warden. In the face of such overwhelming silence, any and all interpretations are valid. What is common to most worshipers however, is the belief that transgressions of Death raise the God's ire. It is almost universally held that Necromancy is an offense to the Lady of Candles, and whatever agents the God of Death does employ across the world are often tasked with hunting down and destroying Necromantic cults and practices. Planar Anchor The Planar Anchor of the Lady of Candles is widely believed to be the artefact known as The Lady's Shroud. For more information on the Shroud and the myths that surround it, see hereCategory:Deity Category:Raven Queen Category:Lady of Candles Category:Death